IBM has announced that it is contributing the Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF) to the Eclipse Foundation, an open source community focused on developing a universal platform of frameworks and exemplary tools that make it easy and cost-effective to build and deploy software.

“We are excited to have IBM’s contribution and leadership to the Eclipse ACTF project,” says Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “This is another great example of organisations driving forward technical innovation through an open source project at Eclipse."

Accessibility Tools Framework is a collection of tools and building blocks developed by IBM. By using the framework, developers can create accessibility tools and applications easily and cost effectively, as they no longer need to spend time creating a tool or an application from scratch. With the reusable accessibility technology components of ACTF, and the standardized design and application programming interfaces the framework offers, developers can quickly and easily build various accessibility tools, such as an accessibility validation tool or a usability visualisation tool.